BOONE, N.C. ? Appalachian State University announced Thursday that four former Mountaineer standouts have been selected for induction into the ASU athletics Hall of Fame. The Hall's 2008 class, which will be inducted in conjunction with Appalachian's Sept. 27 football contest versus Presbyterian, includes football stars Wayne Byrd and Dexter Coakley, men's golfer Andrew Pitts and longtime field hockey coach Dr. Jan Watson.
Additionally, former volleyball and women's basketball coach and athletics administrator Dr. Judy Clarke is the recipient of ASU athletics' 2008 Special Service Award.
All five honorees will be recognized at Appalachian athletics' Hall of Fame Induction Lunch on Sept. 27 in the Grandfather Mountain Ballroom at ASU's Plemmons Student Union. Reservations can be made by contacting Lynda Young at (828) 262-3108 or younglt@appstate.edu. The group will also be honored at halftime of that evening's Appalachian-Presbyterian gridiron clash at Kidd Brewer Stadium.
WAYNE BYRD ? Football (1963-66): One of the greatest defensive backs in Appalachian history, Byrd was a two-time all-conference performer. The four-year letterwinner was a two-year captain for the Mountaineers and earned all-Carolinas Conference recognition as a junior and senior, including being the league's only unanimous selection in 1966. In addition to his being a unanimous all-conference performer as a senior, he also earned all-state, all-district and honorable mention all-America accolades. He intercepted seven passes apiece in 1965 and ?66, marks which remain tied for second in ASU single-season history and returned two interceptions for touchdowns versus Western Carolina in 1966, a mark which is still tied for the most in the school's single-game and single-season annals.
DEXTER COAKLEY ? Football (1993-96): Perhaps the most decorated athlete in ASU history, Coakley is the only two-time winner of the Buck Buchanan Award ? presented annually to the nation's top NCAA Division I FCS defensive player ? and remains the holder of six school records. The Mount Pleasant, S.C. native is Appalachian's all-time leader in total tackles (616), solo tackles (350), assisted tackles (266), double-figure tackle games (38) and 20-tackle games (seven) and is tied for the school record for consecutive 20-tackle games at two. The Southern Conference Freshman of the Year in 1993, Coakley went on to earn all-America recognition three times as a linebacker and earned the Buchanan Award and SoCon Male Athlete of the Year recognition as a junior and senior. Following his standout career at ASU, Coakley was selected in the third round of the 1997 NFL Draft by the Dallas Cowboys and went on to enjoy an outstanding 10-year professional career with the Cowboys and St. Louis Rams. He earned Pro Bowl appearances in 1999, 2001 and ?03.
ANDREW PITTS ? Men's Golf (1987-90): Pitts earned all-Southern Conference accolades each of the four years of his ASU career. In addition to being the only four-time all-conference honoree in Appalachian history, he won the 1987 Campbell Invitational), as well as the prestigious Carolinas Amateur title and the Western North Carolina Open in 1990. Following his impressive collegiate career, Pitts went on to enjoy a successful international career as a professional, which included five international titles, five runner-up finishes on the Asian Tour and two runner-up finishes on the South African Tour. He currently works in senior management of the Asian Tour and resides in Singapore.
DR. JAN WATSON ? Field Hockey Head Coach (1968-72, 1974-83): A pioneer in women's intercollegiate sports both at Appalachian and on the national landscape, Dr. Jan Watson founded the ASU field hockey program in 1968 and went on to serve as the squad's head coach for 15 seasons. In addition to being the founder of the first women's intercollegiate sport in ASU history, she also co-founded the Deep South Association, which Mountaineer field hockey competed in from its inception in 1983 until 1999. As the program's head coach, Watson compiled a 157-65-32 record and mentored the top three single-season scorers and top two career scorers in school history. In her only season of competition in the Deep South Association, six of her players earned all-conference plaudits. In recognition of her efforts, the ASU field hockey endowment was renamed in her honor in 1997.
DR. JUDY CLARKE ? Volleyball Head Coach (1972-75); Women's Basketball Head Coach (1972-81); Assistant/Associate Athletics Director (1973-96): The 2008 Special Service Award recipient, Dr. Judy Clarke spent 24 years at ASU as head coach of the Mountaineers' volleyball and women's basketball programs and an athletics administrator. She came to Appalachian as the second volleyball and women's basketball coach in school history. She coached both programs for four seasons before becoming the women's basketball coach exclusively for the next five years. In nine seasons at the helm of the women's basketball program, she recorded 89 victories, good for second in the school's all-time annals. In that time, she coached three 1,000-point scorers and led the Apps on an 11-game winning streak in 1975-76, which still ranks as the second-longest winning streak in program history. She began her administrative career as an assistant athletics director in 1973 and was promoted to associate athletics director/senior woman administrator in 1990, a position which she held until her retirement in 1996.
